SIN NOMBRE VIRUS INFECTION OF DEER MICE IN MONTANA: CHARACTERISTICS OF NEWLY INFECTED MICE, INCIDENCE, AND TEMPORAL PATTERN OF INFECTION

• Published in: Journal of wildlife diseases Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 12 - 22
• Main Authors: Douglass, Richard J, Calisher, Charles H, Wagoner, Kent D, Mills, James N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wildlife Disease Association 01-01-2007; Wildlife Dis Assoc
• Subjects: Age Factors; animal age; Animals; antibodies; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Antibody; Breeding; breeding season; deer mice; disease incidence; EPIDEMIOLOGY; Female; gender differences; Hantavirus; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome - epidemiology; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome - veterinary; Incidence; Male; Montana; Montana - epidemiology; Peromyscus - virology; Peromyscus maniculatus; risk factors; Rodent Diseases - epidemiology; seasonal variation; Seasons; seroconversion; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Sex Factors; Sin Nombre virus; Sin Nombre virus - immunology; temporal variation; viral diseases of animals and humans; weight gain; Montana
• ISSN: 0090-3558; 1943-3700
• DOI: 10.7589/0090-3558-43.1.12

Sin Nombre virus (SNV), hosted by the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), is the principal cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in North America. To improve our understanding of factors that contribute to the occurrence of HPS, we conducted an extensive field study of the characteristics of newly infected (as determined by recent acquisition of antibody) deer mice and the temporal pattern of antibody acquisition (seroconversion) from 1994 through 2004 in Montana, USA. We sampled 6,584 individual deer mice, of which 2,747 were captured over multiple trapping periods. Among these 2,747 deer mice, we detected 171 instances of seroconversion. There was no relationship between seroconversion and the acquisition of scars. However, recently infected Montana deer mice were more likely to be older, more likely to be males, and more likely to be in breeding condition. In addition, recently infected male deer mice gained less weight over the 1-mo period following seroconversion than did those that did not acquire antibody, suggesting that SNV infection may have negatively impacted the health of infected rodents. Incidence was highly variable among years, and timing of infections was primarily associated with the breeding season (generally early spring through late fall).